Flooded Barn, and a Flood of Love

I've recently gone through something completely unexpected that's caused me to see how being prepared in an emergency is a real need, even for those who don't think they live in an area where there is danger.  We've never had a real flood, never had a tornado, no hurricanes...but this  spring we have had our own personal flood!  We had a record snow fall this month.  I mean a record month of snow, not a record April.  It REALLY snowed!  Our land is quite low, and our barn is actually lower than the surrounding land.  We're on a slope of the Sawtooth Mountains along the western edge of Lake Superior.  All the snow that melts on the ridge comes down to the lake. The spring thaw has really messed up the barn because of how much snow we had this month. There were 6 inches of water in it a few days ago. We had to pump it out and dig trenches to drain the water away.  I was up working on the mess almost all night that night.   All the goats are living on pallets with plywood over them to keep them off the damp floors. Thankfully, the water level seems to be going down now. In a day or two, we'll be able to muck out all the stalls and get the girls and kids into some clean and completely dry living quarters.  That will be such a job!  I'm trying not to really think about what a big job that's going to be, or how much work it has already been. Thank God it's working out! I was pretty upset and worried for a few days! All the mom's and babies continue to thrive in spite of the upset. :)
It is now clear that I need to think about what to do in the case of something like this occurring again, or a forest fire which we do occasionally have very near us.
I'm very thankful to our good friends, who came to help put pallets down and cover them with the plywood pieces.  You helped immeasurably, both the goats and my peace of mind! :)  You are a true blessing to us!  You were a flood of loving care just when we needed it the most.  I hope we can bless you as much as you have us. :)

The Return Of Word Verification

I really feel so sorry to do this to anyone who'd like to leave a legit comment here, but the word verification is back.  We'll see if that helps with the spam comments!  I have been wading through some amazing numbers of nonsense comments lately.  Some of them things I'd rather not have to see!  I do apologize.  With that little announcement out of the way, I'll leave you with a cute kid pic.  I think he was telling us all about the cat, whom he'd just discovered.

Things I've been making I

I've been wanting to share a few of the things I've been making this winter in a post, but as I haven't got the time to get all the photos together on one computer, and make a longer post, I'm going to post some short and sweet ones for a while.

Hattie's crocheted wool sweater with deer antler buttons.

Meet Twist, Latte and "Butcher"

Okay, I know, I've been preoccupied...again...by goats...again.  It becomes an addiction of sorts, I think.  Right now, I own 13 goats.  My husband never would have thought that possible.  Three years ago, the plan was to purchase two does.  Two.  Yeah.

I went to Hibbing for three more goats on Tuesday, and we've been getting to know each other for a few days now.  Time for you all to meet her too!  So meet Twist, her daughter Latte, and her son, who is "affectionately" titled "Butcher".  My 8 year old came up with that name so we would all remember his destiny, and not fall in love.  That should work...yeah.

French's Dream Twisted Sister

Latte, near my knee, and little boy behind her.

Cute babies!

These Nubian babies, almost 2 weeks old, are the same weight right now as my nearly 6 week old Nigerians are.  However, they are a whole different animal.  They're amazingly long and lean right now, as is their mom.  I hope to get a bit of weight on all of them soon.  I trimmed up Twist's hooves this morning, and she was really good about it.  However, she's not so good about having her udder touched.  We're going to have to be working on that, as I plan to begin separating her kids from her overnight and milk her in the mornings soon.  I hope she will be a good milker for us.  Her mother is a great milk maker, with great milk stand manners.  So far, Twist seems to be very good at holding her milk back for her kids, and they keep her udder pretty empty.

That's what I've been up to lately!  That, and slogging through about 18 inches of new snow.  The drifts on the way to the barn are above my knees now.  It's been a perfect winter these last two weeks.  Too bad it didn't do this in December or January! :)